Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery visited Montana and the Dakotas on the epic journey of the early 1800s. Their reports of the vast plains and breathtaking mountains encouraged others to follow and permanently settle here. Trappers, miners, railroaders, settlers, and either bought, claimed, or were given much of the land not set aside for Indian reservations or national forests. But about eight million acres of the public domain, or what we refer to as public lands, remain in these three states.